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‘On Wednesday, the 17th of Jany., 1612, the “Session House” being then nearly finished, there assembled twenty-six justices of the said county, being the first day of their meeting there, where the founder feasted them all; and then, after they had considered what name this structure should bear, they all with one consent gave it the name of Hicks’s Hall, in grateful memory of the builder, and he freely gave the House to them and their successors for ever.’[57]

But previous to this his wealth, the King’s favour, and the honour bestowed upon him, and, above all, the contempt he had shown for civic dignities—having paid the fine of £500 to be discharged from the office of Alderman for Bread Street Ward, which was permitted at the King’s express desire—appears to have brought on him the ill-will of the Court of Aldermen, who disputed his right to continue in business after knighthood; and subsequently by standing on his knighthood for precedency, a right which a fellow-citizen, one Herrick, and his wife disputed, he involved himself in another contest with them. It proved a tedious, troublesome, and chargeable one, owing to the haughty deportment of both Hicks and Herrick and of their imperious wives, ‘who, at their own expense, maintained the suit against the Court of Aldermen.’